The head of the US Department of Defense Lloyd Austin said that currently Ukraine needs more air defense, long-range weapons and armored vehicles, while F16s “at this stage of the war” would not help the Ukrainians. “Now the main need of Ukrainians is air defense. This is a basic need on the battlefield. They also need long-range weapons and armored vehicles,” said the head of the Pentagon.
“We provide them with a significant package of these equipment – he added – We also train them and guarantee the supply of weapons. As for the F16 fighters, if such a decision is made, it will take about 18 months for them to be delivered. But this does not it will help the Ukrainians in this phase of the war”.
For his part, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmigal confirmed that the administration of The United States will send Kiev a new economic aid package worth 2,500 million dollars. The funds will come through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development project, and will go to pay doctors, retirees, displaced people and help low-income families. “Since the beginning of the year – underlined the government – Ukraine has received almost 5 billion dollars from the European Union and more than 2 billion dollars from the United States”.
Ukraine has estimated a budget deficit of more than 33.2 billion euros for this year and almost all the revenues received by the government will be used to improve the country’s military sector.
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